I tried not to register the mud now on the floor mats. I’d clean them up later. I’d put everything back to normal later. It would all be fine.
“I think the seat belt over here is broken,” he said, sliding next to me as I drove away from the lake and toward his house.
My heart seemed to stop. “It is? Can you fix it?”
“Moore, it was a joke. You know, the best pickup line ever.”
“Oh. Right. It’s just this truck: nothing can happen to it.”
“I know. It’s fine. You’ve done fine.” He kissed my cheek.
“Don’t distract me. I have to drive.”
He rested his hand on my knee, which wasn’t any less distracting. “Didn’t we already hear this song? Is the radio playing repeats?”
He was right. We had heard it. Or at least the first part of it, not the whole thing.
“That happened last time we stopped too. Is it a . . .” He pushed a button and the music stopped and a tape came sliding out of the slot on top. “It’s a tape.”
My breath caught. “It is? It must’ve been his. Does it say anything on it?”
He took it out and flipped it once. “No. But someone made it. There are too many artists on it to be one album.”
“Do you think Eric made it?”
“I don’t know, but if he did, he had excellent taste in music.”
“I was going to say the same thing.”
He smiled and put the tape back in the player. “Thanks for letting me be part of tonight. I had fun.”
“Me too. I guess you need to take Heath Hall away now.” I nodded toward the dash where he and his empty eyes still gazed at us creepily.
He loaded him into the backpack and zipped it up. “Do you have anyone you want to nominate to wear this?”
“Besides you?”
“I just walked into an icy cold lake. I’m good.”
I squeezed his hand. Was he good?
“I think I’m going to pass on the torch,” he said. “Let someone else be the mask’s keeper.”
“Really?”
“I was hanging on to it for so long because I felt like it was the only purpose I had in my life. I think I was scared to let it go. But it’s time for Heath to move on.”
“Do you know who you’re passing it to?”
“I’m not sure. What do you think about Amelia?”
The suggestion surprised me, but then it didn’t. “She’d actually be pretty perfect.”
We pulled up in front of his house and he didn’t make any move to leave. Instead, he turned toward me. “I’m so proud of you. This”—he pointed to the floor of the truck—“was amazing. Best fear I’ve ever witnessed. You crushed it. Not that I’m surprised. That’s what you do.”
I wanted to feel good about his compliments, but dread was creeping its way into my shoulders, tightening them with each passing second. “It’s not over yet.”
“What are you going to do? About your parents? How are you going to talk to them? Are you going to leave the truck for them to find?”
“No. Maybe. I have no idea.”
“Someone once told me that you didn’t need to know the future, you just had to move forward.”
“Smart advice.”
“I thought so.”
“You should keep that person around in case they have other smart pieces of information to share.” I had started the sentence as a joke but realized I was unsure of where we stood, what he wanted moving forward. Was this just a unique, rule-breaking night because of the mask and the challenge?
He pushed the hair back from my forehead, his eyes on mine. “I have to keep her around. She owns me.” He kissed the corner of my mouth. “You own me.”
I let out my breath and leaned into his kiss.
His phone rang again.
“It’s like she knows.” He laughed and answered it. “Mom, I’m home. I’m right outside just saying good night to Hadley.”
Had he ever used my first name before? It sounded weird coming from him.
“More like forty-five minutes. And I’m here.” He paused to listen to whatever she was saying. “Well, if I’m already grounded for a week, then I’m just going to make out with her for ten more minutes.”
I gasped. He put down his phone.
“You did not just say that to your mom.”
“No, I didn’t. She’d already hung up.”
I grabbed a handful of the front of his shirt and pulled him toward me. I gave him a soft kiss.
“I thought you were going to hit me. This is way better.” He kissed me twice more. “I better go, though. I wasn’t kidding about the Mom-being-mad part.”
“I know. Good luck with that.”
“You too.”
“Thank you.”
He started to get out.
“Wait!” I called.
“What?”
“I need your phone number.”
He laughed. “We did this way backward.”
We switched phones and entered our numbers, then he left, throwing a smile over his shoulder as he did. A few minutes later my phone rang. Across my screen the words My Hot Boyfriend calling came on. I laughed and answered. “Hello.”
“Do you agree?”
“About which part?”
“All of it.”
“Yes.” My cheeks hurt from the smile there. “Did you get in trouble?”
“Just a week. That’s doable. Are you home yet?”
“No.”
“Call me if you need me, after your parents get home,” he said.
“Okay.”
“Good night, Moore.”
“Night.”